Ex-Inmate Linked To Unsolved 1984 Death Of East Windsor Teen: Prosecutor

EAST WINDSOR — On Feb. 26, 1984, 19-year-old Donna Macho went missing from her home in East Windsor. Eleven years later, on April 2, 1995, her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area in Cranbury.

For years the East Windsor Police Department worked on the case but met with little success.

On Wednesday, authorities announced that they finally solved the case.

Nathaniel Harvey, of East Windsor, was named as the man responsible for the sexual assault and murder of Macho, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri said.

Harvey died in South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton in November 2020. He was incarcerated for the rape and murder of a young widow.

“All of the evidence that was viable to be tested has been tested and all leads have been exhausted,” Onofri said. “After a comprehensive, cooperative investigation, cold case detectives were able to eliminate other potential suspects and are confident that Nathaniel Harvey is the perpetrator in the sexual assault and murder of Ms. Macho and the case is now closed.”

The development may end 40 years of speculation by Macho’s family and law enforcement.

Harvey was arrested around the same time Macho went missing and was held in connection with several sexual assaults as well as an unrelated murder in the Windsor/Plainsboro area. He was identified early on as a possible suspect, but investigative leads dissipated, and the case went cold, authorities said.

The case was being investigated by the East Windsor Township Police Department, and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to authorities, Harvey typically entered unlocked homes, where he would hold captive and rape young women.

In February 2022, Macho’s case was reopened by the state at Onofri’s request.

All physical evidence was resubmitted to the NJSP Central Regional Laboratory, including DNA evidence and fingerprints.

During the investigation, police found Harvey’s semen in Macho’s bedroom. But DNA testing was less precise at the time, and the testing conducted on that evidence was unable to match the bodily fluid to one specific individual, authorities said.

The reinvestigation of the case, and reexamination of the evidence using present-day DNA technology, matched it to Harvey, and determined that his DNA was the only evidence in the room that should not have been present.

Macho’s body was found in a wooded area by a farm where Harvey briefly worked around the time of her disappearance, authorities said.

Her vehicle was found abandoned by a nearby sewer plant, within walking distance of Harvey’s residence.

Though the initial autopsy ruled Macho suffered a gunshot wound to her head, further examination by the Middlesex Regional Medical Examiner’s Office during this cold case investigation determined that, although it was clear a head injury caused the victim’s death, it was not conclusively a gunshot wound. The cause of death was amended to evidence of homicidal violence and Macho’s manner of death remained recorded a homicide.

Harvey was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with a different death in Middlesex County, and he remained in prison from 1985 until his death in 2020.

“By sharing personnel, expertise, and technological resources, the Central Regional Cold Case Task Force took a fresh look at this decades-old mystery and identified the suspect in this horrific crime,” Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.

“We are grateful Prosecutor Onofri referred this case to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, and that all the agencies involved collaborated as a team to bring some resolution to the victim’s family. The life and the loss of Donna Macho was not forgotten, and this announcement illustrates the Cold Case Network will not relent in its pursuit of justice.”

Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police said he hoped the recent discovery provides consolation to Macho’s family.

“Nearly 40 years have passed since the life of a 19-year-old was mercilessly stolen by a predator who discarded her remains in a shallow grave, leaving them unrecovered for more than 10 years,” Callahan said.

“Time does not erase the quest for justice, and although this murderer was imprisoned for another killing and died in custody in 2020, it does not make this conclusion any less meaningful. I applaud the Central Regional Cold Case Task Force and the State Police forensic scientists who were hopefully able to offer the slightest measure of consolation to the victim’s family after all these years.”

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